# Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein

Richard Ellis Uihlein (/ˈjuːlaɪn/ YOO-lyne; born 1945) and Elizabeth Uihlein are American billionaire businesspeople, founders of Uline and right-wing donors. Richard Uihlein is also an heir to the Schlitz brewing fortune.

## Biographies

Richard graduated from Phillips Andover and then in 1967 from Stanford University with a BA in history. A member of the Uihlein family, he is a descendant of the brewers of Schlitz beer.
Until 1980, Richard Uihlein worked in international sales for General Binding Corporation, a company co-founded by his father, Edgar Uihlein. That year, with start-up funds from his father, Uihlein and his wife Elizabeth (Liz) Uihlein founded Uline, a shipping supplies company; the couple continue to own the company. The company expanded rapidly and is now one of the largest U.S. privately held companies; in 2014, Forbes estimated a company value of between $700 million and $2 billion. In 2020 Bloomberg estimated their net worth to be around $4 billion.
As of 2020, the company had around 7,000 employees. Previously headquartered in Waukegan, Illinois, the company moved to Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, in 2010, in return for up to $18.6 million in state incentives. The couple's primary residence is in lives in Lake Forest, Illinois, but they own a number of homes and are noted part time residents of Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin.
Richard Uihlein's cousin is Lynde Bradley Uihlein.
Richard and Elizabeth have three children together together: Richard 'Duke' Ellis Uihlein, Frederica 'Freddy' Goldenberg, and Brian Uihlein.Their children hold executive roles within the Uline Corporation. while Liz Uihlein is the company's president and Richard is the ceo.

## Political activities

Richard Uihlein has been a Republican donor for decades, and increased his political giving after Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. He has been a longtime donor to Republicans who share his ultra-conservative views. Richard is a staunch social and economic conservative, with views that are anti-union, anti-tax, and pro-deregulation. He has a history of supporting far-right candidates, and has often supported efforts in opposition to gay and transgender rights as well as abortion. Although an influential donor, Richard Uihlein has been described as a person who "shuns the spotlight"; he and his wife rarely give interviews.
Elizabeth Uihlein focuses her donations on the main GOP organizations, such as the Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee, and National Republican Congressional Committee.

### National politics

In the 2014 election cycle, the Uihleins made at least $5 million in political contributions, mostly to right-wing PACs ($1.8 million to Liberty Principles PAC; $670,000 to Americas PAC, and slightly under $500,000 to Jim DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund and affiliated super PAC).
The Uihleins gave $22 million in the 2016 election cycle. In the 2016 Republican primaries, Uihlein initially supported Scott Walker and Ted Cruz; after they both dropped out of the race, Uihlein backed Donald Trump, contributing money to the pro-Trump "Great America PAC" and contributing $500,000 to Trump's inauguration, which he attended. He also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee. Liz Uihlein also subsequently became a "mega-donor" to Trump.
From 2016 to 2018, a political action committee funded by the Uihleins gave at least $646,000 to a new network of free newspapers and websites, created by Brian Timpone, that mimic local newspapers but offer pay-for-play articles to conservative clients.
In the 2018 election cycle, Richard dramatically increased his political contributions, making $37.7 million in contributions to outside spending groups (the fourth largest donor to such groups). The couple's contributions placed them on the tier of other Republican mega-donors, such as the Koch family, Adelson, and Mercer. His contributions include support for many Republican candidates in competitive primary races, such as Ives and Chris McDaniel. Also in 2018, Uihlein gave financial support to Kevin Nicholson, a one time long-shot Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin; eight super PACs funded by Uihlein also expressed support for Nicholson. They contributed $4 million to the Fair Courts America PAC. In 2019–2020, Uihlein gave $250,000 to Allen West in his campaign for the chairmanship of the Texas Republican Party against incumbent James Dickey.
In the 2020 election cycle, the Uihleins and their company had, by April 2020, contributed $1.5 million to Trump's "America First Action" super PAC, and $20 million to other Republican groups. From 2015 to 2020, they donated $4.3 million (including $800,000 in October 2020) to Tea Party Patriots, a group that participated in the March to Save America rally that preceded the 2021 United States Capitol attack.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Liz Uihlein declared the pandemic "overhyped" and was an outspoken critic of stay-at-home directives issued to combat the spread of the virus, calling upon Republican members of the Wisconsin Legislature to push to remove Governor Tony Evers from office over the directive he issued. In November 2020, the Uihleins announced to the company that they had contracted COVID.
Uihlein was a major financial backer for the rally that preceded the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Uihlein is also the biggest donor to Women Speak Out PAC, a group seeking a federal abortion ban. Uihlein has also donated millions to Restoration PAC, which promotes "all marriage is for one man and one woman for life."
In columns in the company catalog, Liz Uihlein frequently writes on the couple's political views, ranging from "the danger of Chinese competition, the negative health effects of marijuana use and the detriments of the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policy."
During the 2022 midterm elections, Richard Uihlein contributed over $80.7 million to Republicans and Republican-aligned groups. This included major spending in the 2022 Illinois gubernatorial election; Richard Uihlein gave more than $42 million to "People Who Play By The Rules PAC", a super PAC that ran attack ads against Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker to boost the candidacy of his opponent, Republican nominee Darren Bailey. The super PAC was operated by Republican operative and talk radio host Dan Proft. Richard Uihlein also gave $10 million directly to Bailey's campaign.
During the 2022 election cycle, the Uihleins were the largest donors to Doug Mastriano's 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaign. They also contributed to the U.S. Senate campaigns of Herschel Walker, Ron Johnson, and Adam Laxalt. Other politicians supported by the Uihleins include Georgia representative Jody Hice and Texas representative Louie Gohmert. The Uihelins contributed $3.2 million to the American Principles Project PAC between 2020 and 2022, which ran campaign ads for school board races with messages against transgender "ideology" and critical race theory.
During Ohio's 2023 August special election cycle, Richard Uihlein donated $4 million to a PAC supporting Issue 1, an effort to require a 60% majority to pass citizen-initiated constitutional amendments. The measure was "resoundingly rejected" by a large majority of Ohio voters.
As of October 2024, Richard Uihlein had given nearly $59 million in 2024 to Restoration PAC, a leading pro-Trump super PAC that is active in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia.

### Wisconsin politics

The Uihleins spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the 2011 Wisconsin Senate recall elections, in support of state senators facing recall over their support for legislation to end collective bargaining for public employees, and also backed litigation against public-employee unions, including Janus v. AFSCME. He has supported conservative groups and candidates including Ted Cruz, Roy Moore, The Club for Growth, and the Illinois Policy Institute. Uihlein is also a major donor to Liberty Principles PAC, Americas PAC, and Scott Walker. While Uihlein spent $2.6 million in support of Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner in his successful 2014 Illinois gubernatorial election campaign, Uihlein broke with Rauner after he signed legislation in 2017 that expanded abortion coverage for women on Medicaid; Uihlein gave millions to Jeanne Ives, who challenged Rauner in the 2018 Republican primary.

### Conservative organizations

The Uihleins also finance conservative think tanks and nonprofits such as the Conservative Partnership Institute, Turning Point USA, Sons of Liberty, the Center for Security Policy, Liberty Justice Center, and Think Freely Media. Through the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, the Uhleins made $40 million in grants between 2013 and 2016 to organizations such as the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Media Research Center, the Leadership Institute, and the Philanthropy Roundtable. The Ed Uihlein Family Foundation has also donated to the American Enterprise Institute, Americans for Prosperity, the Institute for Free Speech, and the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute.

## Holdings outside of the Uline Corporation

The Richard and Elizabeth own a large number of houses throughout the United States and frequently inject themselves into local politics via large donations to city governments.

### Illinois

Richard and Elizabeth's primary residence is in Lake Forest, but they also own residential property in Lake Bluff.

### Wisconsin

Richard and Elizabeth own two lake houses in Wisconsin, one in Manitowish Waters and one in Hayward on Kavanagh Bay. Elizabeth is heavily involved in the politics and Commerce of Manitowish Waters via EAU Holdings.

### Florida

The couple owns multiple properties in Florida.